U.S. Appeals Court Reopens Bhopal Case

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, in New York City, has ruled that a lower court erred in December 2005 when it threw out a case in which plaintiffs claimed they were injured by water pollution from the former Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India. The suit, against Carbide and its former CEO Warren Anderson, claims that the company’s operation of a pesticide plant in Bhopal and inadequate cleanup when the facility shut down contaminated the local water supply. In its ruling, the appeals court opined that the district court did not give the plaintiffs enough opportunity to argue the merits of their case. The case will now return to the district court for further proceedings.